BYD Co., China’s largest electrified vehicle maker, opened its second North American electric bus assembly plant, in Newmarket, Ontario.
The 45,000-square-foot factory will first focus on assembling buses for the Toronto Transit Commission, Canada’s largest transit operator, BYD said last week.
Last year, BYD landed an order from the Toronto agency for 10 40-foot-long electric buses with an option for 30 more.
Prior to the opening of the plant in Ontario, BYD shipped electric buses from China to transit operators in other areas of Canada. They include St. Albert Transit, Grande Prairie Transit and two other transit operators in Alberta.
BYD opened its first electric bus assembly plant Lancaster, Calif., in 2013. The factory now employs about 1,000 people.
The Ontario plant is BYD’s sixth electric bus plant outside China. The company also assembles electric buses in Scotland, Brazil, Hungary and France.
BYD, based in Shenzhen, is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is partly owned by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett.
For the first five months of this year, it delivered 119,082 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles globally, more than doubling the tally a year earlier. The number includes 1,467 electric buses.
